What You Didn't Know About Amanda Peet

Some actors love the limelight and all the scandal that comes with it. Others like to keep their private life, well, private. You have your Gwyneth Paltrows who can make a story out of a DMV trip, and then you have your Anne Hathaways who usually keep the conversation to their new projects. Now and then, though, there's Amanda Peet, who has been working steadily since 1995. Since then, she's been both a serious actor and the talk of the town.

You aren't likely to see Peet on the front page of the New York Post. No, you're much more likely to find her written up in Vogue for her immaculately decorated Hollywood Hills home, or speaking to Variety about her jump from actor to creator.

Though she's been a household name for decades, there's plenty people don't know about Amanda Peet. From her eyebrow-raising friendship with Sarah Paulson, to Peet and her husband's marriage-threatening disagreements about "Game of Thrones," to her other creative projects, we've got it all covered.

When you've been working in showbiz for as many years as Amanda Peet has, you're likely to build up an impressive bank account. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Peet is sitting pretty atop a $100 million fortune. Keep in mind, that's a combined estimate with that of her husband, David Benioff, who co-created "Game of Thrones," one of the most successful television shows of all time.

What does Peet spend all that money on, anyway? Well, as far as we can tell, she likes to splurge on property. Her immaculately decorated house has been written up in Vogue, which described the Hollywood abode as "Tribeca loft"-inspired. Peet reportedly also has a soft spot for art. Her house is decorated with a hodgepodge of paintings made by her kids and big-name artists. "Amanda's very willing to fall in love, but she is also staunchly unpretentious," her art consultant told Vogue. "She's drawn to things that are personal to her, but that are also romantic."

Don't get too lost in the art, though, because the four-bed Hollywood Hills home also comes with a spa, pool, library, and an additional house that could be converted into a gym or detached garage, per Variety.

Here's the real shocker, though, for someone with a $100 million net worth, Peet's reportedly out here looking for the bargains. Case in point, the lavish house only cost a measly $4,625,046, small potatoes compared to what she and Benioff could have comfortably put down.

We can't talk about Amanda Peet without talking about her relationship with Sarah Paulson. If you know anything about the duo, then you probably remember their famous 2016 red carpet kiss that got people talking. "There was no thought process," Peet told People of the intimate moment. "That is often the case with my relationship with Sarah."

Peet and the "American Horror Story" star's friendship has been well-chronicled over the years. Peet described the relationship as complicated but worth it when speaking to the outlet in 2017. "It's very intense and visceral and really beautiful and we work hard at it," Peet said, describing Paulson as another wife or husband.

Paulson has been equally complimentary of Peet, famously singing her praises in a 2016 interview with Marie Claire: "She is an extraordinary mother, dedicated and present, with heavy doses of humor and a child's sense of play, while remaining my most loyal, supportive friend," Paulson said. 

Paulson reportedly connected Peet with Sandra Oh, who went on to star in Peet's show, "The Chair." Peet is not on social media, she said on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," so Paulson kindly agreed to "slide into Sandra Oh's DMs" (as Colbert put it) to ask her to read the script for Peet.

Amanda Peet got lucky in love. The actor has been married to David Benioff since 2006, though they dated for four years before they tied the knot, per People. Even if his name doesn't ring a bell, Benioff's work certainly will. He's one of the co-creators of "Game of Thrones."

The pair have had a long-lasting relationship, and in addition to standing by her man, Peet also stands by his work. Not to give away any spoilers (in case you haven't seen it), but the 2018 finale of "Game of Thrones" was widely panned by critics and fans. Peet, however, came to Benioff's defense. On "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen," Peet was asked for her thoughts on the finale, "I had read it, and I loved it when I read it, and I continue to stand by it," Peet said, implying that people shouldn't get so worked up over television shows, anyway. "I just feel like maybe some people couldn't, didn't want to say goodbye. I don't know. Look, maybe I'm just too close to it, but I didn't understand the blowback. For God's sake, people. It's a television show," Peet said.

Despite her A-list status, Amanda Peet actually comes from pretty humble beginnings. Almost any successful actor was once a struggling actor, and any struggling actor will tell you that it takes a lot of credits before acting starts paying the bills. If you're lunching somewhere in Hollywood, the chances are that your waiter is serving food as a means to an end. After all, there's an entire series, "Vanderpump Rules," about waiters trying to get out of the waiting game.

Ever relatable, Peet spent years paying the bills with regular jobs, too. "I was a coffee presser at Bodum coffee shop," Peet told Backstage in 2018. You might recognize the Bodum name from their line of coffee beans and coffee grinders. So, was Peet a world-class coffee grinder? Not exactly. "I splattered and ruined a lot of shirts," she admitted.

The star told Intelligencer that her first New York job was as "a hostess at Crab City, at 18." Things didn't go so smoothly at the restaurant. "On the first day of work a couple asked me if I could please warm their bread, so I put the entire bread basket into the oven," Peet revealed. "The restaurant almost caught on fire and needless to say, I was fired immediately."

These days, Amanda Peet has it all, a successful career, a place in Hollywood history, a loving husband and kids, you name it. But it seems that it took a while for the storied actor to convince her parents that she'd make it in show business. When speaking to CinemaBlend in 2009, Peet explained that she came from a family of doctors, and as an artistically-leaning kid interested in an acting career, she was different from her family.

Peet added that it took "a long time" to convince her folks that she had a future in Hollywood as a serious actor. She reportedly had to explain to her family point-blank that she was famous. "I remember when I got 'Seinfeld,' I got 'Seinfeld' before 'Jack & Jill' and 'The Whole Nine Yards,' which I consider to be my break, and [my mom] literally didn't know who Seinfeld was," Peet told the CinemaBlend. "It was kind of like, 'Guys! I'm getting famous!' My sister is a little more with it, so she would be more excited."

While Peet is a success by any measure, she jokes that she's still the odd man out at Thanksgiving. "There were no people in showbiz in my family in this generation or the next generation," she said. "So yeah, I'm a little bit of a freak show."

After years in front of the camera, Amanda Peet is ready to pursue other artistic outlets. Perhaps inspired in part by her showrunner husband, Peet has become increasingly interested in writing since her first play, "The Commons of Pensacola," premiered in 2013. "I want to write something for myself. I want to be Amelia Earhart or Eleanor Roosevelt or something. I want to write myself! But I found that it's better if I think about someone else when I write," she told Vanity Fair, adding that when she writes, she has some odd traditions. "I write on the floor, crouched up in a weird ball," she told the outlet. "I definitely think I'm a thrower of spaghetti against the wall. It's almost like having this huge lump of clay. It's what Mark Duplass calls the diarrhea draft. You have to just finish the diarrhea draft. Then you're good to go."

By 2021, Peet had landed a coveted spot as the co-creator and showrunner of a new hit starring Sandra Oh, Netflix's "The Chair." Rather than writing about her own experience, though, Peet was inspired by the news cycle. "Beyond what I was reading in the headlines, there were a lot of professors who wanted to speak about their experiences — experiences as women getting tenure, experiences with students, experiences in schools that are very old-fashioned still," she told Variety.

Stars, they're just like us. They have huge houses, private jets, and professional stylists. Okay, we aren't that similar to stars. While our houses might never have been written up in Vogue for immaculate interior design like Amanda Peet's, the actor does have some similarities with her fans. Specifically, she gets star crushes on the uber-famous (just like us). So, exactly who is Peet's celebrity crush? The answer to that definitely surprised us a bit.

It turns out that Peet has a bit of a thing for John Cusack, and she likes him for more than just his good looks. "Every time he has been cast in something that I'm in, I think that I can't really believe my good fortune," she told CinemaBlend. Peet and Cusack starred in both "2012" and "Identity" together. The first time Peet found out she'd be working with him, she nearly passed out. "I almost keeled over and fell down wherever I was," she said. Upon meeting Cusack, Peet couldn't string together a sentence, she was so in awe. She recalled to CinemaBlend, "I was just a bumbling imbecile, and it's taken me just about this long before I can actually look him in the eye and say good morning and not spill my coffee or make a fool of myself one way or the other."

While Peet's never been lucky enough to do a romantic comedy with him, she's reportedly still holding out hope.

Amanda Peet had her husband's back when it came to the criticism he faced over the "Game of Thrones" finale. Given her support for the controversial ending, it might come as a bit of a surprise to learn that when David Benioff first came to Peet with plans to turn the literary franchise into a big-budget television series, she had some serious reservations. "I thought it was a terrible idea, terrible," she said during a 2015 "Conan" appearance. "It's like Dungeons and Dragons but real, with real people." After some prompting from the host, however, Peet admitted that once she saw the show in its final form, she became a huge fan.

In fact, Peet became such a fan that she took it personally when her favorite "Game of Thrones" character, Jon Snow, died in the Season 5 finale. "I don't love [Benioff] anymore," Peet said during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel. "I said, 'If you kill [Jon Snow], that's it," Peet explained. She detailed how, having been well aware of the rumors that Snow might die, she forced Benioff to send her a photo of the actor who plays Snow, to prove that his hair hadn't been cut (if he had cut his hair, fans thought it would be proof that his time on the show was over). "It's a little bit like being married to someone in the CIA or something, except...not as important," Peet joked.

What was Amanda Peet like growing up? These days, Peet is a beautiful Hollywood star with a sexy husband to boot, but, as it turns out, Peet was not a very cool kid. In fact, her "glow up" is so astounding that it's worthy fodder for any silver screen storyline. "I was actually a prude in high school," Peet said in a promotional interview with IndieLondon for the film "A Lot Like Love" (with Ashton Kutcher, in which she definitely does not play a prude). "I did my homework and went to college and worked hard and was pretty normal," she added.

Before you go thinking that Peet was totally docile in high school, please don't, because apparently, she also had a bit of a rebellious streak. "I grew up in New York and I went through a big 'Goth' phase wearing black," she explained to IndieLondon. "I definitely fancied myself to be a downtown hipster arty type of person."

As a mom of a kid, a tween, and a teen, Peet has some opportunities to be the "cool mom." On "Live with Kelly and Ryan," the actor said her teenage daughter wanted to be in a TikTok with her for that cool factor. "I just am not coordinated in that way," Peet explained, pointing out that her arm was in a sling at the time of the talk show appearance. Once the video was complete, the smile on her daughter's face was worth all the effort.

In the showbiz industry, when creators find an actor they work well with, with they tend to stick with them throughout their career. Nora Ephron had Tom Hanks, Adrian Brody has Wes Anderson, and Leonardo DiCaprio has Martin Scorsese. As for Amanda Peet, her favorite pair of creators are the Duplass brothers (Jay and Mark), with whom she worked on "Togetherness."

"I love the way they work," Peet told BFF Sarah Paulson during a conversation for Elle. "They're brilliant writers. They're very loose on set," she continued. "I know that if I do something really bad, they won't use it, so I feel safe," she said. Peet also added that the Duplass brothers were such a dream to work with because they treat her so well — "They've ruined me," she said, "But I'm happy to have been ruined by them."

"Togetherness" may not have made it past its second season, but Peet went on to work with the Duplasses yet again in 2020, on Netflix's "The Chair." The only difference? This time, Amanda Peet was calling the shots as writer-executive producer, and Jay Duplass would be focusing more on his work in front of the camera. "I felt that we had that shorthand with each other and that intimacy with each other," Peet told Variety in 2021.

Any working mom will tell you that balancing motherhood and a career is no easy feat. That's especially true if you're Amanda Peet and your job often requires you to be on location, far away, for hours, days, or months at a time. Peet and her husband, "Game of Thrones" showrunner David Benioff, share three kids, Frances, Molly, and Henry.

How exactly does Peet juggle it all? She reportedly finds inspiration in the words of airlines around the world: "You have to put on your own oxygen mask before you put on others," she told Self in 2009 (via People). She believes it's important to show your kids that it's okay to prioritize yourself. "Children need to have a role model who is able to identify her passions and go after them," she said.

Peet felt it was imperative to demonstrate that balance to her young daughter, Frankie, at that time. "Sometimes I feel guilty about making time for my friends, but that's a good model for Frankie, and it's poignant to me because she's a girl," said the "Togetherness" star. "It's important for her to know that when I leave her, it's to go see someone who needs me. That I have to stay on the phone right at that moment because I'm checking with a friend who's opening a play or something like that." It sounds like Peet has set a great example for her kids, especially her daughters.

Did you know Amanda Peet is a published children's book author? In 2015, she co-authored a book, "Dear Santa, Love Rachel Rosenstein," inspired by her children. Peet's kids, Frances, Molly, and Henry, are being raised Jewish, and apparently, they've had a lot of questions when it comes to Christmas. Tired of fielding the same inquiries year after year, Peet decided to write a book. They were asking me, 'Why can't we have a tree? Is Santa coming to us? Who is Santa? What can we do for him?'" she told People. 

Peet wrote the book with Andrea Troyer, the wife of her husband's "Game of Thrones" creative partner D.B. Weiss, while living in Belfast during filming. Together, they came up with a short story that would eventually become "Dear Santa, Love Rachel Rosenstein," about a Jewish girl who wishes she could celebrate Christmas like the rest of her friends.

In a statement to Bustle, Peet shared, "The book came out of a desire to capture the feeling of being left out during the Christmas holidays and to explain how you can't always get what you want — and how sorting that out, for Jews and Gentiles alike, is part of what the holiday spirit is all about." The authors donated part of their profits to the Seeds of Peace non-profit organization.

Besides just inspiring the story, Peet's kids served as invaluable editors. Per People, Peet and Troyer would read the kids drafts of the story, and the second they started looking bored, they knew what to cut. If the glowing Amazon reviews are any indication, Peet's kids have a future in publishing.